The One Who Holds the Stars
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Ichigo had managed to keep them alive against all odds. After the Colony fell, after her wounds had healed... Now they face a new challenge aboard the Enterprise. As a temporary Captain and Crew. Fem Ichigo story. no pairings yet. First star trek story.
1. Chapter 1

"Are we sure that we have to do this?" Jean-Luc asked as he fidgeted with the collar of his uniform nervously as Deanna, Worf and Will all watched him in amusement. "I mean, allowing civilians to take part in an open contest against academy cadets, to become the temporary captain of my ship? It was one thing to allow it as a means of motivation for the cadets. But I _never_ actually expected _children_ aboard the ship to actually manage to _win_ against trained cadets."

"Oh stop fidgeting, Jean-Luc. The contest was about raising awareness among both the cadets and those with the potential to do great things. I take it that the fact that these children managed to win- as a good thing. Just imagine what they must have been through personally to make such brilliant minds. Why they could be rare gems that we could help encourage to really make something of themselves! Why we may even be able to steer one or two towards new careers as academy cadets next year." Deanna said excitedly causing Jean-Luc to cast a slightly pleading look toward his second in command and security officer.

Both of whom, were trying desperately to supress the urge to laugh at him as the elevator finally came to a stop on the fourth floor and the door opened so that they could step off.

Their first stop was a Miss...Kurosaki's room since she was the one who had won the contest with top scores, and would be the temporary captain of the Enterprise for the next six months. Walking down the hallway towards the girl's room, Jean-Luc couldn't help but wonder just what kind of person he would be handing the control of the ship over.

After all, just because the girl got the top scores in the contest didn't mean that she knew anything about how to actually command a ship or it's crew. And what if a combat situation arose? What would she do then? Have a nervous breakdown? Cry?

Finally reaching the girl's room, he cleared his throat and started to lift his hand to knock when he and the others suddenly heard a loud sounding yelp from inside the room followed by a crashing sound.

Exchanging concerned looks, he, Worf and Will took out their phasers and set them to stun and then quickly opened the door to go in and make sure that nothing questionable was happening.

They didn't really _see_ anything out of the ordinary upon opening the door to Miss Kurosaki's quarters. The room was nice and tidy. Everything was carefully arranged to allow the maximum amount of comfort and space.

The only thing that they saw that was even a tad bit out of the ordinary- was the peculiar collection of books covering every subject imaginable, lying strewn across the glass coffee table. Spilling over onto the floor and couch.

"Miss Kurosaki? This is Captain Picard. Are you well? We thought that we heard someone in distress!" Jean-Luc called out as he and Will moved to scan the room while Worf covered their backs.

He was about to call out again when he and the others heard several panicky voices calling out Miss Kurosaki's name as several people ran up. Twisting their heads around to see who had just run up shouting, he, Will and Worf saw a tall muscular young man with long shaggy looking wavy hair, and a girl with long fiery colored orange hair standing out in the hall with Deanna.

"Where is Ichigo? Is she okay?" The girl asked Deanna in a anxious manner as the councilor raised her hands and started to speak, slowly and in a low soothing tone as the young man slipped past her and into Miss Kurosaki's quarters.

"You need to leave-" Worf said as he turned to address the young man's intrusion.

"I'm not leaving without Ichigo," The young man said as he gave Worf a glare and none too nicely pushed the man back and made a beeline for the bedroom before anyone could stop him. Pausing at the door only long enough to say, "Ichigo, it's me, Chad. Climb down off the ceiling- you have company."

There was an audible thudding sound from the other side of the bedroom door and seconds later the door opened and a very disgruntled looking teenager peeked out.

"Are you okay?" The young man asked as she took a moment or so to scan the room. Wide, panic stricken eyes landing on the captain, his first officer and the security officer before going to the door where Deanna and the girl stood before she slowly answered the man's inquiry.

"I-I'm bleeding."

"How bad?"

"About a six." The girl said as she glanced up at the young man as if to gauge his reaction as he inhaled sharply and then nodded his head.

"I'll send in Orihime to help."

"Please and thank you." The girl said in a rush before disappearing back inside of the bedroom as the young man turned and cast them a strange look before calling out softly,

"Orihime! Ichigo needs you for a moment!" The girl that up until then had been speaking with Deanna, entered the living quarters and made an automatic beeline for the bedroom, pausing only briefly for the young man to tell her something before gasping and going wide eyed and quickly opening the door and then disappearing inside and closing it behind her.

Once she was inside, the young man finally moved to address them. "They'll be a few min-" His voice cut off as they heard a loud,

"_Ow!_ Dammit Orihime! What are you a savage?!"

Followed by another yell from the other person in the room. "Well what do you expect me to do?! You're _bleeding_ like a murder victim here! And is that _fire_!"

Followed by the first person shouting loudly, "That's no frigging excuse for causing further- _OW_! The hell- Stop smacking me woman!" Causing the young man to make a funny face and then quickly turn and smack the bedroom door with his palm, effectively silencing the shouting match going on inside the room as he turned back to them and gave them a strained smile and simply said,

"Have a seat. They'll be out soon."

Jean-Luc, Will and Worf all looked just a little bit uncomfortable for a moment but slowly put their phasers away and sat down somewhere on the couch and chairs available as the bedroom door finally opened and the orange haired girl stomped out in a huff.

"I'm going back to my room for now. We'll meet again later and _talk_ about what happened with Ichigo." She said in an no nonsense tone as she left. Not caring in the least if she confused anyone present to hear her.

Seconds after she left, the bedroom door opened again and the same kid from before peeked out again. Her manner this time was somewhat wary as she said tentatively, "Please tell me that she's gone."

"She is. But we'll be meeting up again later to talk."

"Okay... I can live with that," The girl said before she bothered to step out of the bedroom so that they could really see her as she gave them all a small smile and finally greeted them. "Hello Captain Picard. First officer..."

"Will. My name is Will. And this distinguished gentleman next to me is Mr. Worf, our security officer."

"Oh, right," She cringed a little bit before saying. "Sorry. I'm kind of bad putting faces with names. Ranking's not so much, but actual names generally tend to elude me."

"That's quite alright, Ichigo, was it?"

"Um, yeah. D-Did you guys need something?" Ichigo asked as she moved to sit down in one of the last seats available. Not the least bothered by the fact that her big muscly friend, whom remaining standing not too far away from them.

"Well, yes. We were coming here today to congratulate you on winning the open contest to become Captain of the Enterprise for the next six months."

The girl stared at them for a second, tipped her head to the side a little bit and then frowned as she said, "I didn't think that I turned the forms for the contest in. I mean, I know that I filled them out. But I had no intention of turning them in so I set them..." Her voice trailed off for a second as she turned her head towards the small round table on the other side of the room before saying, "Hn... Okay, never mind then. I guess Orihime must have grabbed them and turned them in thinking that it's what I would want."

"You're taking the news remarkably well." Will said with a grin. The girl merely looked at him for a moment before saying,

"Not really. I'm actually kind of furious that she went behind my back like that. But whatever. There isn't much that I can do about it now so I might as well make the best of it... Please, tell me what I'm expected to do."

"Very well." Jean-Luc said as he started to outline her new duties aboard the ship. His explanation took the better part of an hour or so. But by the end of it, he thought that he had explained things nicely enough for her to understand things. Before asking her what she would like to do first as the ship's Captain.

He and the others were somewhat startled when she asked curiously, "I get to pick my own officers, right?"

"Yes. That is part of you're...entitlement as the temporary Captain. Did you have some people in mind for specific positions?"

"I did. But first I want to make something very clear. I want the three of you to maintain your official status aboard the ship. Keep your ranks, your jobs. But for the duration of my...uh...new job- I need your three to work mostly as advisors to me and the people I choose for specific positions."

"That sounds...more than fair," Will said after a moment or so of mulling things over. "Who did you have in mind for the temporary crew positions?"

"Chad. He can work a little bit as both a second officer and a security officer. He's always had my back, and to be honest I don't have a whole lot of people that I can trust. But I trust him," Ichigo said as she tipped her head back to look up at her friend and then asked, "Are you okay with that?"

Her friend merely gave her a small smile and placed his hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair in an affectionate manner as she then settled back in her previous position and then said, "Councilor Troi should stay on as is. I want her close on hand to help gauge threats." Jean-Luc nodded his head in agreement.

Finding the girl's reasoning rather impressive for something that was being planned on the fly.

She must have been remarkably _good_ at working under pressure and strategizing at a moment's notice. Which was somewhat _unusual_ for someone who was sixteen or seventeen years of age. However he didn't think it was anything suspicious or worth really dwelling on.

"I would also like Commander Data to help as an advisor. And the other person I would like to fill in as a temporary crewmate is Orihime. I want her to work in the infirmary with Dr. Crusher."

"Anything else?"

"Just one or two small things. Before I really take over as the temporary Captain of the ship we'll have to set aside some time to work on some training exercises. And maybe a few trust building exercises too. Chad will have to be taught a few self defense methods. It wouldn't kill Orihime to learn some of the same. She tends to get into trouble more often than I would like."

"Well, everything sounds very well thought out. How about we meet up in several hours for the first round of training? Say, the holodeck in two hours?"

"Sure. That will give me some time to prepare I guess." Ichigo said as they rose to leave. They were already late to be on the bridge so that they could address the crew about the upcoming changes in personnel.

* * *

Once they were gone, Chad looked down at Ichigo questioningly before asking her if this was the right move to make. Ichigo merely shrugged her shoulders and told him that she didn't know.

It had been almost two years since they had first appeared in the future after a massive explosion caused by Aizen. And not once in that time had they managed to find one of their friends, or any of their comrades.

And in that time they had run into an entire slew of issues and problems. Some they had been able to handle easily. And others that they hadn't.

But one thing remained the same. Ichigo protected them just like she always had. And to that end, they were supposed to hide themselves in plain sight under the guise of being civilians. And keep their abilities under wraps.

However it appeared as if that was going to become considerably _harder_ now that Ichigo was to gain the position of temporary Captain, and he and Orihime temporary officers. Sighing, he leaned down and brushed his lips over the top of Ichigo's head and then straightened and muttered something about going to get ready for later and then slowly walked to the door and slipped out while Ichigo was too busy thinking to bother to protest.


	2. Chapter 2

The two hours agreed upon passed fairly quickly for Ichigo since she left her living quarters immediately after cleaning her bedroom for any signs of the disturbance that had occurred this morning. And then showering to scrub away the rest of the blood, ashes, and general grime that she'd wound up smearing all over her face, hands and arms.

Once she was showered and scrubbed, she made sure to dress herself in some old clothing. A black T-shirt, some faded old jeans with holes littering both legs in various places, and some slip on leather shoes. After which she brushed her near waist length hair and then pulled it back in a ponytail secured in place at the top of the back of her head by an old scrunchy.

Once she finished with that, she took the time to dig out her old training gear. Consisting of some sharp, military grade knives, a bo, and some other odds and ends that she had stuffed into a carrying case. After which she grabbed her stuff and then left her living quarters and walked down to the holodeck that the Captain had agreed that they should meet in for training purposes, and found Chad already there.

"Hey." She greeted him as she stepped into the room and dropped her case onto the floor just inside of the door where it would be out of the way once everyone finally arrived.

Chad paused his workout to nod in her direction, in greeting and waited for her to kick off her shoes and make her way over to where he was standing before asking, "Are we going to spar?"

"Sure. I figure we can start out with hand to hand and if we have enough time, move on to knives or something."

"Sounds good." Chad said knowing that between the two of them and their many, _many_ sparring sessions over the past few years- they had both become quite proficient with blades and other types of weapons.

"Alright," Ichigo said as she took up a fighting stance across from him. "Let's get nice and warmed up then." Chad shifted his body into a fighting stance as well. One that was better for defending than what Ichigo was using.

Their spars always started like this.

Ichigo took up a stance more benefitting her fighting methods. While he took one to better defend against her attacks. They would fight for a little while, and then they would switch.

They had gotten a bit into their spar and were more or less playfully calling each other juvenile names when Captain Picard, Worf, Will, and what looked like Commander Data walked it and all paused inside of the doorway long enough to observe them curiously as Chad landed a_ painfully_ harsh blow to Ichigo's ribs.

Ichigo didn't even stagger as they seperated. Nor did she grunt or cry out like a normal person would have when they had just had two or three ribs broken. No- instead of doing anything remotely _normal_, she merely gave Chad a feral smile and attacked him again.

This time managing to get in close enough to wrap her arms around him and then flipped them both so that they hit the training mat with a loud thud as she pinning him in place.

Tapping her arm to let her know that he was tagging out before she actually managed to break a few of his bones in return. She abruptly released him as someone let out a loud-ish sounding whistle, causing her to tense up as several others began to clap.

"Bravo!" Jean-Luc called out excitedly. His expression, much like his companions, was one of awe.

Apparently it had never occurred to them any that the two may actually know how to fight and take care of themselves and others. However Ichigo _never_ would have brought up sparring as a training exercise if they didn't at least know how to hold their own or vice versa.

She simply wouldn't have taken the chance that they could have injured someone regardless of how _informative_ Ichigo usually found sparring to be.

"It seems that our temporary Captain is quite well versed with taking care of herself." Data leaned in and not so subtly whispered to Will. The man simply grinned and playfully whispered back.

"I'm pretty sure that she can hear you Data."

The android blinked at him and visibly cringed a little bit in response as Worf walked over to the two kids and gave them both appraising looks before then asking Ichigo, "Are you're ribs well? Your friend looked as if he hit you quite hard."

"I'm fine."

Worf looked as if he wanted to say something else, but Chad cut him off by saying. "Ichigo can have half of her vital life sustaining organs ripped out and would still say that she was fine. It's best to leave her alone for now. If she starts feeling unwell, I'll take her back to her room."

"Would it not make more sense to let Dr. Crusher look her over if she starts to feel..._unwell_?"

"It wouldn't do any good. She won't go to the doctor for anything that isn't_ immediately_ life threatening." Chad said with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"That...does not sound very wise." Worf said after a heartbeat or so of silence. Again Chad shrugged.

"It's fine. She wouldn't shrug something like that off without a good reason. Though we'll have to keep a close eye on her just in case she punctures a lung or something."

"Very well," Worf said reluctantly with a slight nod of his head. He didn't quite understand why the girl would pretend that she was fine if she wasn't. But he would help keep an eye on her as her friend had suggested before then asking as soon as the others had joined them. "How do you wish to proceed with today's training...Captain Kurosaki?"

"First of all, everyone is going to pair off with someone who's fighting style they are familiar with. You'll each go a round or two as a warm up. After which all of us will switch partners. We'll do this until everyone has switched partners with everyone at least once. After that, we'll try to work some on a little bit of everything. Hand to hand, grappling, throwing and so on. After that If you want to quit for the day, then you can go. Anyone comfortable enough to stay will then take part in some weapon's training."

"Weapon's training? Is that wise when we're just starting out?" Will asked somewhat hesitantly. Worried that their temporary Captain may somehow either hurt or kill someone or get herself or her friend hurt or killed.

"It will help everyone here become familiar with their sparing partners. You need to learn a little bit of everything about them from how they move. How they carry themselves. Their reflexes and personality- how they react to the immediate threat of injury to themselves or others. This type of information may one day come in handy if something like an alien were to come into contact with the ship and people start to act..._strangely_. Knowing these things, will help keep you safe. And will also keep others safe."

"Barely temporary Captain of the ship for two in a half hours and you're already paranoid about alien attacks." Jean-Luc said in amusement, causing Ichigo to visibly flinch before looking away from them for a moment as Chad growled out,

"She has every reason to be paranoid after the events of the last colony we were on."

"The colony? I wasn't aware that you and your friends had lived on any colony." Will said.

"We did. For almost three years. And then the aliens came... They practically wiped everyone out except me, Ichigo and Orihime."

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Worf asked, "How?"

"It started out small at first. The occasional small terrorist groups. Vulcans, Klingons- no offense, Mr. Worf- And then the _unknowns_. Aliens with malicious thoughts towards humans and others. They could take over our minds and bodies. Use us until we were damaged beyond repair. Ichigo was the first to realize that something was wrong with one of our neighbors. His mannerisms were different. The way that he spoke and moved."

"She knew that something was wrong. That there was something among us, and she tried to raise the alarm. But no one would listen. In the end, out of a colony of five thousand- all were dead but a handful of people that the unknowns hadn't managed to touch. Ichigo fought- because at that point she was really the only one who _could_. Me and Orihime were both injured."

"She had made us stay behind to watch over the others that hadn't been taken over. One of which was a...a close friend. Uryu, was an estranged cousin of Ichigo's. He was intellegent, strong, clever- he fretted over us like a mother hen... Ichigo had gone out to look for supplies and hopefully, more survivors. And while she was gone, Uryu somehow came into contact with the unknowns and was taken over."

"He attacked us. And killed everyone that we had been trying to keep alive, saving me and Orihime for last so that the unknown occupying his body could make Ichigo watch us die. When she came back and saw the bodies- she came hunting for us. I think it was safe to say at that time, that she was more than just a little bit pissed about the senseless slaughter of innocent people."

"She fought him? Your friend?" Will asked quietly.

Chad nodded his head curtly. His expression growing dark and enraged as he growled out. "She did. And he managed to wound her..._badly_. By the time she finally killed him- she was barely alive. She'd suffered multiple wounds from multiple fights up until that point; all of which hadn't had much of a chance to heal any. She lost her eyes, her heart muscle was shredded, her lungs were filling with blood faster than she could get rid of it. One of her arms had been almost completely severed, her bones broken."

"She was dying. I knew it. She knew it. Even Orihime knew it. We had the medical equipment to stabilize her. And it was touch and go for a while, but we finally managed it. But she was...barely alive. Her heart stopped several times, we had to cut her open and force tubes inside of her to drain the blood in her lungs. However she had fallen into a coma and was totally _unresponsive_."

"We almost lost her several more times when help arrived. Because she wasn't in any sort of condition to be moved. She was in the coma for almost a year in a half, I guess. During which time new eyes were found and transplanted along with several new organs that failed. Including her heart."

Everyone was silent and contemplative for several moments as they eyed the girl from where she was standing. She had her back turned to them and looked as if she were studying something.

Just anything that she could do to keep from having to look at them before calling out, "Pair off everyone. Chad- You pair up with Mr. Worf. Commander Data, you're with me."

* * *

The spar that they had had was..._enlightening_ for them all, to say the least.

So far Jean-Luc, Will, Worf, and Data had learned far more about their ship's temporary Captain than they had thought that they would. Finding out that Ichigo and her friends had lived on a colony that was wiped out by an unknown alien species had been...oddly informative as to what motivated the girl to do some of the things that she did.

It also explained away some of her skittishness, and nervousness when they had gone to meet her earlier that morning.

Couple that with the fact that the girl had been able to toss Data around like a rag doll. Much like her friend seemed to _delight_ in doing to Worf.

And Jean-Luc was feeling much more _comfortable_ with handing the command of the ship over to her.

Though he and the others were still somewhat on the fence about how she would handle a possible combat situation. The knowledge that she and her friends could _actually_ take care of themselves weighed less heavily on each of their minds.

"I can't believe how easily that girl was able to throw you around, Data." Will said in a disbelieving/awed tone as Worf sat down beside him at the table he and Data had grabbed to sit for a bit in Ten Forward. The little pub/restaurant on board the ship.

"I know," Data said in a slightly bewildered tone. "I still cannot seem to wrap my mind around it. I keep trying to figure out how it is even possible for a human- much less a human female Miss Kurosaki's age- to manage such a feat. Logically speaking, it simply shouldn't be possible. I...weigh far too much."

"Do not feel bad Data. That...boy managed to do a somewhat impossible feat as well." Worf said as he shifted the ice bag that he'd been holding against his head to his other hand.

"You mean throwing you fifty feet?" Will asked with a wry smile as Worf turned his head to glare at him for a moment.

"It was...odd. That is all."

"I'll say." Will muttered under his breath as he kept staring dazedly ahead.


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo leaned back on her couch with a sigh while Chad took a few moments to gently probe her ribs to see how badly he had actually injured her earlier during their initial spar. Partially out of concern for her because she started spitting up blood a short while after the Captain and the others had left them.

And partially to gauge how long it would take her to heal herself so that she could assume her duties as temporary Captain without having him worry about her unnecessarily.

"How do they look?" Ichigo asked after several minutes of silence. His dark eyes flickered up from his task, to her face. Noting that she looked tired. So much so that she looked like she was on the verge of dozing off, despite the obvious pain that she was in.

"Two broken ribs. And at least three severely bruised ones. You should have dodged that blow when we were sparring."

"Yeah...I know."

"So why didn't you?"

"We were being watched." She murmured in a soft tone. He frowned at her as he dropped the hem of her shirt back into place around her waist and wondered why she mentioned being watched as if it were something relevant.

"I'm aware." He said and blinked when she suddenly moved and flopped herself over into his lap, and just lay there, draped across his thighs as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"No," She finally said, "I'm not talking bout the Captain and the others. I'm talking about..._it_."

_'It'_ of course must have had something to do with the disturbance that he and Orihime had felt this morning in Ichigo's room when she had been injured. Her injury this time had been a _six_ out of ten. Which was..._bad_ in itself. However it wasn't so bad that she couldn't carry on like usual.

Especially after Orihime had helped to jump start her regenerative abilities.

"Do you know what it was?" He asked, wondering if they should gear up for the next big fight while wondering idly if this would be the one that finally _killed_ them all.

"No. But I know that it's still around someplace on the ship."

"Will it attack anyone else?"

"I don't know," Ichigo admitted after a moment or so. "It...isn't like hollows. Or the unknown. Though I do think it's a sort of alien parasite."

"Ah." Chad said, thinking that it now made sense that Ichigo had decided to place Orihime in the infirmary as a temporary crewmate/helper to the doctor.

With her abilities, anyone that came there that had an parasite or something attached to them, hurting them- she should in theory be able to not only save and heal. But reverse the worst of the damage done to them and allow them to return to their lives as normal.

Gently tugging the scrunchy from her hair, he laid it aside and then started to comb his fingers through the silken tresses as Ichigo sighed and asked in a drowsy tone, "When will Hime be here?"

"Probably sometime around dinner."

"Damn. She's planning to corner me when I'm weak with hunger."

Chad felt his lips quirk up in amusement at the mental image of Ichigo being weak in any capacity whatsoever, and being corners by Orihime and having to choose between her and dinner. It was a well known fact that Ichigo would never abandon her food if she really had any kind of a choice at all.

Her abilities simply ate up so much energy that she needed the extra calories and proteins replenished almost _constantly_ otherwise she became lethargic, anemic, and on occasion even passed out.

And speaking of passing out... "Going to sleep on me, Ichi?"

She made a humming sound but didn't really speak to neither bothered to really confirm nor deny his inquiry. Which could only mean that she was feeling flat out exhausted. And with reason to be, really.

Between her injury this morning, tidying up the mess in her bedroom, scrubbing away the evidence of the attack from the 'parasite', learning of her new duties as temporary Captain, and training- it was a wonder that she hadn't collapsed unconscious already.

Deciding that it was probably for the best that he put her to bed, he carefully shifted his body just a tad. Not much, mind you but enough to manage to slip his hands underneath her so that he could easily lift her up off of his lap and stand when she let out a whine that had him quickly putting his hands back in their original position, knowing that he probably wouldn't be moving from this spot for quite some time.

So it was probably a good thing that he didn't need to relieve himself.

However just as he was mentally breathing a sigh in relief, Ichigo snuggled up to his side and muttered, "Think of waterfalls and streams, Chad."

_The little witch_.

* * *

"Do you think we should invite Ichigo and her friends to dine with us? To get to know them better." Will asked Jean-Luc curiously since dining with the captain of the ship was a regular bonding experience for some choice members on the crew.

"That might not be such a bad idea Will. It would certainly give us a chance to learn more. I'm especially curious to know how our young temporary Captain managed to toss Data around like a rag doll."

Will snickered, remembering Data's own bafflement about that. "We should invite Data if you plan to ask. Especially since he almost fried his circuits trying to figure that out for himself earlier."

"Is that so?" Jean-Luc asked in bemusement as a grin made it's way across his face. He could just imagine poor Data with smoke coming out of his ears!

The android was probably down in engineering right this very moment, talking Geordi's ears off about what had happened.

"Yes. It's probably a good idea that we should invite Data. It would give us all opportunities to ask questions, and perhaps even learn things that we never have before."

"Oh! We should invite Beverly and Deanna too."

"That is also a good idea. Come, let's go and tell...our Captain of this evening's plans and then hunt down the others."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Chad wasn't sure how long her sat there with Ichigo half lying in his lap, asleep. But inevitably he felt the pressing need to go relieve himself and tried to wake her. However Ichigo was nothing if not persistent in her endeavor to sleep. And refused to rouse at all.

Which wasn't all that surprising since she usually tended to sleep that much _deeper_ when he was around for her to snuggle up too.

Finally after trying everything from tickling, to attempting to pry himself free- he finally just stood up and practically dropped her onto her head and then bolted for the door _blindly_\- and practically mowed down the Captain and his first officer in his mad dash to get to the restroom.

Picard yelped as he and Will wound up knocked over on the floor outside of Ichigo's room by a giant blur, looking both startled and shocked.

"Was that Chad?" Will asked as he partially sat up, or at least tried to sit up as much as he could with Jean-Luc pinning him down.

"I think it was. I wonder what has him in such a rush?" Jean-Luc asked aloud as Ichigo appeared at the door, looking disheveled, and glanced down at them for a moment before peering in the direction Chad had just dashed off in with a frown.

"Are you two okay?" She asked as she held out both of her hands to them. The two men blinked at her for a moment as she wiggled her fingers at them, insistently. Reluctantly they both took an offered hand and surprisingly enough, upon finally having their hands in her grasp managed to pull them both up to their feet, easily.

They both awkwardly thanked her and took a moment or so to dust themselves off before she finally asked then what they were doing there. Well actually the first thing she asked, _again_, was if everything was okay.

They both gave her somewhat strained looking smiles, and then politely told her that everything was fine before hen managing to ask her if she would like to have dinner with them and a few others. Her friends were of course invited as well.

Providing that she could manage to hunt them down and let them know.

She gave them both a dazzling smile and assured them that hunting down her friends wouldn't be an issue for her, and then sent them both on their way after Picard told her where they were dining and at what time. She waved them off after letting them know that all of them would be present, but somehow completely managed to forget to tell them that Orihime and Chad tended to have the table manners of toddlers sometimes.


	4. Chapter 4

Finding Orihime and Chad was easier than expected. Somehow managing to wrangle them into cleaning up and dressing themselves in something semi nice for the dinner with Picard and several others, took some serious negotiating on her part.

Mostly because the two usually wanted something from her and wouldn't _budge_ until she promised it to them. Chad was easy, his wants usually tended to coincide with hers and Hime's. Though that didn't stop the two from attempting to manipulate her any.

Which was somewhat laughable really.

Orihime wasn't very subtle when it came to manipulation. And Chad was more than happy to usually sit back and give her just enough rope to hang herself with.

This time, the two were in total agreement on the one thing that was the bane of Ichigo's existence. Dresses. To get them both to even so much as agree to clean up and change into something semi nice to wear- Ichigo first had to swear that she would wear a dress.

And not just any dress. But one of _Orihime's_ choosing.

Now- to fully understand just why Ichigo hated dresses, one only had to be there when Orihime had bought her one for her sixteenth birthday and proudly presented it to Ichigo at her birthday party.

It had been pink. _PINK!_ And covered in frills and lace and bows. And had been so horrible, that Ichigo hadn't been able to stop herself from promptly _burning_ it.

Which had amused Chad to no end- because he was a damned sadist. And had upset Orihime so badly that she now bought disgustingly pink and frilly things and attempted to foist them on her regularly. Granted she had gotten somewhat better with the kinds of nightmary dresses that she bought for her in recent years- mostly due to the color and semi style change.

But dammit! They were still nightmary.

And if Ichigo could have gotten away with it- the creators of such travesties would have been hunted down and killed a million times over!

As it was, she *cough*_ destroyed_ *cough* a majority of the dresses when Orihime and Chad weren't around to make her feel bad about it. However for everyone that she destroyed- Orihime replaced ten times over.

It sucked really.

But she still agreed as long as the 'dress' in question wasn't anything pink, lacy, Lolita-ish- and at least could be accessorized. Orihime had given her a wide toothy grin that made even Chad nervous before he muttered something about needing a shower and then scampering off.

_The coward._ Ichigo thought with a feral sounding animalistic growl as Orihime slipped into her bedroom and started to throw potential outfits onto her bed. Out of five potential outfits, Orihime _finally_ managed to narrow it down to one.

A nice long sleeved, navy colored sweater dress that fell to Ichigo's knees with small slits up both sides of the skirt that Ichigo could easily accessorize with a necklace, belt, and maybe some earrings.

Ichigo let Orihime continue to dig through her closet while she went to take a quick shower and upon finishing, returned to her bedroom to get dressed, to find that Orihime had already dug out several belts, some boots and heeled shoes, some make-up, several pieces of jewelry, perfume- wait? Where the hell had that come from?

She didn't wear perfume. _Ever._

Maybe Orihime had smuggled it in whenever she hadn't been looking? Not that it mattered much. Ichigo wasn't going to bother with it anyways.

Sighing, she ditched her towel and started to get dressed when Orihime suddenly reappeared from wherever the hell she had gone and studied her for a moment as she finished tugging her left arm through the sleeve of the dress before saying. "We should do something with you're hair."

It was at this point that Ichigo put her foot down. Literally.

Walking around the bed to where the other girl stood, she grasped her shoulders in her hands and then spun her around and _pushed_ her out of her room and then closed the door.

It was one thing to want her to dress nice, it was quite another to try and force her to look the part of a _girly-girl_. Because that was just a mistake of epic proportions, in the making.

Ichigo knew this because the last time she had ever dressed as a girl-girl at the behest of someone- she'd almost been forcibly married to some _jerk_ that she didn't even know!

So no. She was never doing that again. She didn't care how much Orihime seemed to delight in her discomfort. It just _wasn't_ going to happen.

Sitting down on her bed, she took a few moments to slip on a pair of knee high black boots with small heels, after deciding against wearing high heels or wedges since they showed far too much of her legs and skin. Skin that was covered in multitudes of scars from the many, _many_ battles that she had been in.

Scars that she didn't want anyone to see due to the way that people tended to look when they saw them. That odd mixture of horror, pity, and disgust churned her stomach.

Once she finished with that, she stood back up, and walked over to the small vanity table against the far wall, and picked an eighteen inch sterling silver hammered circle chain necklace, and some small stud earrings before then even attempting to tame her wild hair.

Once she managed to get most of it to lie down and grabbed a few bobby pins to pin her bangs down so that they framed her face instead of hanging in her eyes, obscuring her vision. After doing that, she found a belt to go with her dress, a nice wide black and silver one to match the rest of her outfit.

Once she had it in place, she moved to leave the bedroom when the door opened and Chad peeked in. "You're alive." He sounded almost surprised to actually find her in one piece. Especially after the rude way that she had removed Orihime from her room a few minutes prior.

"Yeah, I'm alive. How pissed is Hime?"

"You'll probably have bruises later."

"Awesome. You dressed?"

"Yup. And Hime is getting dressed right now."

"Great. Lets...go...walk slowly and give her a chance to catch up to us."

Chad snorted thinking that turning their backs on Orihime when she was in a snit was a very _dangerous_ thing to do. But he knew that Ichigo was sort of set in her ways. So if Hime decided to ambush them on their way to dinner and rough her up some, Ichigo would let her.

After all, it wasn't like Orihime was their enemy or anything.

She was just pissed. There was a difference.

"Alright. Lets go." He said after a moment or so of silence.

"Okay, and Chad..."

"Yeah."

"If she actually manages to kill me- help her hide the body. She's too pretty to go to prison."

"Okay," Chad said in agreement, knowing that Ichigo had a point there. Holding his arm out to her, he let Ichigo step out of the bedroom before placing his hand on the small of her back and gently maneuvering her towards the door to her quarters as he said, "I'll help her get rid of the body. I've always been fascinated by airlocks and how space can freeze things into something brittle and easily shattered."

"Ohhh, that might actually work..." Ichigo said jokingly.

They both knew that the vaccum of space would do nothing to her unless she died a _true_ death. Otherwise she would simply regenerate. Over and over and over again.

* * *

To say that everyone was excited to have a chance to learn more about the kids that had become their temporary captain and crewmates- would be an understatement. A very, very gross understatement.

Will, Data, Deanna, Beverly, And Jean-Luc were all anxiously awaiting their guests arrival and sharing small bits and pieces of what they already knew of the kids when they heard a loud yelp from outside the Captain's quarters and all turned their heads and frowned at the closed door, wondering what had happened to cause such a loud sounding cry.

The doors of the ship were reinforced steel, for crying out loud. They were supposed to be sound proof... So it usually took quite a lot for any sort of sound outside of anybody's living quarters to even penetrate the rooms.

"Should we go see what is going on?" Will asked curiously as Deanna started laughing,_ hard_ a mere second or so before the door opened and Chad appeared in the doorway, practically carrying Ichigo in his arms while the girl growled something at the grinning young lady trailing behind them.

"I can't believe that you _actually_ tried to cripple me you deranged lunatic!"

"Well, you did turn your back."

"That isn't the point, Orihime! For god's sake you could have injured me!" Ichigo hissed, her face flushed a nice fetching pink from embarrassment as she continued to rant.

"_Oh please_. We both know that it would take more than being tackled from behind to actually hurt you."

"That's it! No cuddles for you, young lady! I'm cutting you off!"

"I'll shave your head-" The young lady trailing after Chad threatened menacingly. Ichigo curled her lips back form her teeth and _snarled_ at her.

"Go ahead! It isn't like I like having long hair anyways!"

It was at this point that Chad decided to interfere, and cleared his throat loudly enough to have both girls turn their heads to glare at him before realizing that they had an audience.

Ichigo squeaked in mortification while the other girl just stared at everyone for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders and made a beeline for any of the empty chairs at the table as Chad looked directly at the Captain and said in an apologetic tone, "You'll have to forgive Hime, sir. Ichigo has been trying to raise her right ever since she found her being raised by wolves as a child."

Will's lips twitched in amusement as Jean-Luc merely nodded, as if the mere mention of the girl being raised by wolves explained her terrible behavior away completely. And then politely gestured to the table. Chad gave him a small nod and then moved to deposit Ichigo in the chair _furthest_ from Orihime's range.

After all, they wanted this dinner to go well. Make good impressions.

_Not_ make total asses of themselves.

Once Ichigo was in her seat, Chad grabbed the one next to her and seated himself in it after pulling out a couple of other chairs for the ladies present as Picard greeted and introduced everyone while they all took their seats.

"Everyone, this is our temporary Cpatain, Miss Kurosaki-"

"Ichigo." She corrected him automatically, causing him to give her a slight smile as he then said.

"Forgive me, Ichigo. And of course her two friends, and our temporary crewmates for the next six months- Chad and..."

"Orihime. Although most of my friends call me _Awooo_." Hime said with a big grin, playing perfectly into Chad's excuse for her lack of manners earlier. Will and Deanna both almost choked on their water, they were laughing so hard. Chad had to put a hand in front of Ichigo to prevent her from banging her head on the table when she ducked it rather abruptly.

Meanwhile Data was looking around from one person to the next, utterly lost. While Jean-Luc huffed a laugh himself and tried hard to suppress his own mirth as he said, "Very well...Miss Awooo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Chad..." Ichigo said in a whisper tone before then saying, "Kill me now."

Chad merely shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment before saying softly, "Now, now. That's what the airlock is for."

"Can we go there?"

"Sure, after dinner." Chad said as he patted her on the back in a comforting manner as she let out a groan as Will said encouragingly,

"Why don't you three tell us a bit about yourselves." Which must have tripped Orihime up a bit because the first thing she did was attempt to throw Ichigo under the bus.

"Ask Ichigo. She knows everything." She said in a rush as Ichigo raised her head from the table and shook it vehemently. A look of alarm flitting across her pretty face.

"Nuh-uh. I do not."

"You do-"

"I don't."

"Ichigo, you know the secrets of the damned universe! You have for years!" Orihime blurted out in an almost accusing manner as Ichigo reached out and grabbed Chad's arm with her small hand and tugged on it as she said,

"Chad, Chad- stop her! She's trying to throw me under the bus!" She squeaked in horror.

Chad merely sighed and pointed to Orihime and said, "_Shut up_," And then glanced down at Ichigo and said, "And you, Ichigo, calm down. I am _not_ going to entertain everyone while you pass out from a panic attack."

Orihime thinned her lips and glared at him for a moment as Ichigo sank down in her seat a little bit. Trying hard not to have anyone's attention drawn to her unnecessarily.

It was too little; too late, of course.

Everyone had been watching the exchange with avid interest.


	5. Chapter 5

"Um... What exactly would you like to know?" Chad asked in an attempt to get attention away from the girls. Honestly, he couldn't take either of them anywhere without having them make a scene of some kind.

It must have worked, because one moment everyone's attention was on Hime and Ichigo and the next- it was on him. "Oh, um, how about you tell us a bit about you're home and how you all met." Jean-Luc suggested kindly. Willing to ignore the girl's banter for the moment.

Chad nodded his head and began telling them a little bit of this and that about each of their childhoods, noting that the girls chimed in only to correct him here and there. Before then going on to tell about how he met and because friends with the two.

He probably _should_ have glossed over the details of how he and Ichigo had met. Especially since there had been a gang involved. However he didn't think of it right away since he was sort of on autopilot and _not_ really paying attention until he felt Ichigo's hand squeezing his painfully hard.

Of course, by this point- the gang and what they had been doing to Ichigo at the time had already been mentioned and everyone at the table was looking at himself and Ichigo, _strangely_.

"Let me get this straight," Will started after a heartbeat or so of silence. "The two of you fought against a gang who had previously, not only injured Ichigo. But had been about to kill her as well?"

Chad had been about to nod when Orihime chimed in suddenly in an effort to do some damage control.

"Chad and Ichigo were somewhat famous back home for doing stuff like that. They got attacked a lot, and sort of got tired of it and just started beating their attackers up. Inevitably the people in the gangs, as well as many, _many_ others were so scared of the two that they practically jumped at their own shadows whenever they heard either of their voices."

"P-Pardon?" Jean-Luc stammered as he looked from one to another, wide eyed as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just heard.

_"Hime."_ Chad growled at her in warning as she said defensively,

"What? It's true! In all actuality it's actually pretty impressive when you stop to really think about it," Orihime continued, not bothering to heed Chad's warning tone. "I mean those people probably thought that the two of you would be pretty easy pickings due to your ages. No one would suspect that a _twelve_ year old girl, and a _thirteen_ in a half year old boy would be able to do that much_ damage_ to some of the most feared criminals in town."

By this point, Ichigo's fingernails were starting to draw blood from his hand because she wasn't bothering to be careful about her strength. Not that he minded any. She could have broken his hand and ground the bones underneath his skin to a fine powder and he wouldn't have minded at all.

"But then...gangs weren't all that they took care of," Ichigo made a weird choking sound at this and turned her head to look at him in a pleading manner as Orihime continued, this time with a bit more of the cover story that they had come up with to explain their sudden appearance in the future to certain government officials. "The two of them kind of became hero's and enforcers in our community. They...took care of people who couldn't take care of themselves."

"Is that how you met them?"

"God no," Orihime laughed before saying, "The three of us lived close together. And went to school together too. In fact the first time I ever really spoke to Ichigo at all was when she was walking home and I got hit by a vehicle. There I was lying in the street, dazed. And I could hear Ichigo shouting something. Another of our classmates came running up to check on me while Ichigo chased down the vehicle, forced it off of the road- yanked the driver out and dragged him back to where I was. After which she handed him over to our classmate and then grabbed me and carried me to the nearest hospital to get checked out."

"I had a sprained ankle, some bruising and a bad concussion. And once I was okay-ed to go home, because I lived alone, Ichigo dragged me to her place and made me stay with her and her family. I think she was more than a little bit freaked out about how close I had come to actually dying."

"After that, I noticed that the awkwardness that Ichigo usually felt around others sort of just..._disappeared_. We were together a lot more. We spoke more. I think I went into shock the first time we had an actual honest to god conversation where she didn't accidentally trip over her feet or run herself into something." Orihime said with a slight snigger as Ichigo flushed that same fetching shade of pink as before from embarrassment.

"I did not trip over my feet or run into anything!"

It was Chad that chimed in this time, "You did. I remember the first time that we actually talked... You weren't paying attention to where you were going and fell over the side of the bridge that went over the river."

"I did not!"

"You almost _drowned_ before I could fish you out due to the speed of the current and the rocks that you were pummeled against. And even when I did fish you out, you were all bloody." Chad said with a hint of amusement.

"I'm not that bad."

"Not anymore you aren't," Orihime said sweetly before then tacking on, "I think she must have finally gotten paranoid that she may actually do irreparable harm to herself after having so many accidents. She started to _really_ watch her step after the freezer incident."

Everyone laughed.

Finding the stories that the girl's friends told both oddly charming and amusing. Especially when the poor girl looked as if she wanted to just disappear.

The rest of dinner was just as amusing. Though things became somewhat somber when Data, who was near bursting at the seams by this point, finally managed to ask how Ichigo had managed to throw him around like she had during their sparring match.

"O-Oh, that..." Ichigo said with a small frown before then saying, "I have a rare genetic disorder that...augments my actual physical strength to several times beyond what is normal for the average human."

"I have never heard of such genetic disorder's before. How much does it augment you're normal muscle capacity?" Data asked curiously.

"The doctor's back home managed to pin down my muscle augmentation somewhere between eighty percent and one hundred and thirty percent beyond normal."

"Fascinating. And how much weight can you lift?" Data asked curiously. His gold eyes, took on an strangely calculating look.

"Let's see... You weigh somewhere between five hundred to maybe five hundred and fifty pounds, right?" Ichigo asked. Data nodded. "Then I can lift maybe ten times as much. Give or take..."

There were several strangled sounds from various people around the table as Dr. Crusher all but jumped out of her seat as she shouted, "You can lift over two thousand pounds!"

"It's actually closer to five or six thousand." Orihime corrected, causing the poor woman to sputter in shock.

"That must be very dangerous," Will said as he eyed Beverly like she had gone insane. "Being able to lift that much must be difficult for you."

"Not so much actually. Part of the augmentation in my muscles, is also an increase in bone density. It would be dangerous to pick something that weighed that much up- if I had the bone density of a normal person. My bones would snap, shatter, and grind themselves into a fine powder. My organs would rupture, and I would die from internal injuries. With my bones being denser...I have a much less probability of serious injury or death."

"I-Is that why- before at the colony-" Jean-Luc started to ask if that was the reason that her friend, Chad had been so upset when he had mentioned her long list of injuries after the alien attack on their former home.

Ichigo didn't say anything more. She merely caught his eye and nodded her head in confirmation.

That yes, it took quite a bit to actually hurt her. Even more so to injure her so severely.


	6. Chapter 6

Dinner after that was a slightly more nervous tinged affair.

Partially due to the new information that Will and Jean-Luc had on their temporary Captain, and partially because Beverly was curiously firing questions at the poor girl so quickly that she'd nearly _choked_ on her food several times already while trying to answer them.

Will had thought the interaction was interesting at first.

Until Jean-Luc had had to step in and call the woman off. Calmly telling her that if the girl didn't want them to know specific things- then she needed to back off. Though Will somewhat suspected that he'd stepped in purely because his three hundred year old antique solid oak table had started to groan _loudly_ in protest underneath the teen's hands.

That and he made a half joking comment about how it was a good thing that Beverly had taken a hippocratic oath to do no harm; otherwise Ichigo might have already been dragged to the nearest lab and strapped to a table for experimentation.

Luckily the teen hadn't heard the comment, she had seemed anxious enough about telling them about her...medical condition? That Will seriously doubted that she would have appreciated the joke any.

The girl was overwhelmed enough as it was.

Still...far too soon, she and her friends decided that it was time for them to leave. Orihime mentioned something about needing to speak with Ichigo and Chad about something important. But didn't give any detail as to what their talk would be about.

Which was fine.

Jean-Luc and the rest of them rose and shook the kids hands and politely wished them all a goodnight after Ichigo took a moment to ask when she would be needed on the bridge. Once Jean-Luc told her to make her appearance after waking tomorrow, the kids all thanked them for inviting them to the lovely dinner. And Orihime mentioned sweetly, that Ichigo would have to invite them all to a breakfast or lunch where she cooked.

Ichigo had blanched a little bit as Chad had rolled his eyes and reached out to grab Orihime as she kindly assured them that Ichigo could actually cook quite well before she was practically yanked off of her feet by the boy and dragged out of the door with a loud, startled sounding yelp.

While Ichigo merely stood off to the side, out of the way, her eyes wide from the sheer amount of menace that Chad suddenly had rolling off of him as he dragged Orihime by the back of her shirt, _yelling_, down the hallway.

Shooting them an hesitant smile that looked like it was more cringe than actual smile, she told them that she would invite them to eat with her sometime soon. After which she muttered about needing to catch up to the others to ensure that Orihime didn't suffer an unfortunate accident and then rushed off.

* * *

Chad had Orihime on her back on Ichigo's couch, looming over her like a dark cloud, by the time she finally caught up to them both. Storming over to Chad, Ichigo placed a hand on his arm and gently patted it. Silently telling him to back down before things got ugly for all of them.

Luckily, he heeded her and stepped back. Flopping himself into the small chair set across from the couch as Ichigo grabbed the front of Orihime's shirt and shook her slightly as she growled out, "What. The. Fucking. Hell. Orihime?"

What the fucking hell to the whole damned dinner conversation? To her loose lips? To the _unwanted_ breakfast/lunch invite?

Dammit she had enough unwanted attention on her! Not to mention that they would have to go about their new duties _extremely_ carefully just to keep people from knowing about their abilities and attacking them.

Fuck all- she had enough people trying to kill her without Orihime helping to create more!

Dammit all, their current situation was a problematic one at best. And it would only become an even more problematic as time passed and their abilities were revealed.

Finally releasing Orihime, Ichigo sat herself down on the couch next to her and rested her head in her hands, feeling as if her head was going to explode as Chad started to tell Orihime that she needed to think about what she may have possibly done to compromise their safety. As Ichigo felt bile burn at the back of her throat and quickly jumped to her feet and bolted for the bathroom before she could puke.

* * *

"So Deanna, did you manage to read anything from the kids?" Will asked curiously as he set his napkin aside and picked up his wine glass to take a sip when the woman said,

"Yes. But only faintly."

"Really? What was it?"

"Something akin to a mayday signal."

"Pardon?" Will asked, startled by her reply.

"Orihime and Chad, I couldn't really read at all. But Ichigo...all I seemed to get from her was something akin to a mayday signal. Weirdly accompanied by screams and explosions." Deanna said with a small frown.

"You're right. That is weird," Will said as he set his glass back down before asking, "Was there anything else?"

"Yes. I don't really know how to explain it...but, when Ichigo mentioned having a genetic disorder... the word, 'liar' flashed through my mind in bold letters along with the words, 'not human' and 'afraid' followed by, 'safety compromised'."

"You think that she lied about the medical condition to cover up the fact that she...isn't human?" Jean-Luc asked curiously.

"I think, if she isn't exactly as human as she appears, then it might stand to reason that she would lie to cover up her differences under the guise of normalcy. To make herself seem more human. And to hide herself in plain sight. It's already very obvious that she dislikes people paying attention to her. She becomes anxious. Nervous..."

"I see."

"No I don't think you do," Deanna said gently if a little bit sadly, "I think the reason she doesn't like being watched. Has to do with her alien abilities. She doesn't want to be discovered as something else than human. She's very...worried. And her friends are as well. She may be running from something. All three of them might be running from something. I just don't know what."

"Then we'll just have to keep an eye on the kids."

"I'm not so much worried about them as I am what they may be running from."

Will and Jean-Luc merely exchanged glances, but said nothing else.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Deanna, Will, Worf, Data and Jean-Luc were all sitting around talking about the things that Deanna suspected about Ichigo not just being an alien trying to pass herself off as human. But also about her and her two friends being on the run from something when the door to the bridge opened and Ichigo came walking through wearing similar clothing to those that she had trained in the other day.

With the exception of the color of her shirt.

This time it wasn't black, it was a deep, long sleeved navy blue.

Her long hair was also damp from just getting out of the shower a few minutes prior to coming up to the bridge. Some of the pieces were still dripping wet at the tips and hung over her shoulders and down her back and couldn't possibly be all that comfortable for her as the door to the bridge opened again and Chad stepped through the door followed by a scowling Orihime who promptly, and rudely pushed the tall boy aside and made a beeline for Ichigo with a towel in her hands.

Chad just stood off to the side of the two girls watching the spectacle along with everyone else as Orihime practically jumped on the other girl's back and started roughly drying her hair for her as she yelped and floundered for a moment as if she couldn't make up her mind between throwing the girl off of her or screaming for help.

She finally settled after a heartbeat or two and just stood there and let Orihime do whatever she wanted with a small huff of annoyance that caused Will, Deanna and Jean-Luc to wonder how often something like this happened to her.

At the most they had expected her to at least scream or put up more of a fight. After all, having someone jump on your back in public and dry your hair for you tended to imply that you couldn't take care of yourself.

And no one was likely to respect someone in even a temporary position of power, if they couldn't take care of themselves.

"There, all dry!" Orihime chirped as she jumped down from Ichigo's back and let the other girl start to finger comb her hair to get the new tangles and snares out of the long strands as she jokingly muttered.

"Thanks mom."

Orihime merely gave her a toothy grin and replied playfully, "No problem dear," As she started to walk away only to pause and blow Ichigo a dramatic kiss and gleefully said, "Play nice with the rest of the other kids!" and then disappeared, laughing loudly at her own joke.

Ichigo merely made a disgruntled sound as she wrinkled her nose a little bit and then turned to Chad who was still standing where Orihime had pushed him moments before, staring at her through wide eyes, and then pointed at him and said, "I blame you for that. You've been teaching her _all_ of your bad habits."

Chad just shook his head and walked over to where Worf was waiting for him so that he could show him the ropes. The man was far too happy to see him, in Chad's opinion. But he kept his mouth shut and let him show him how things worked knowing that the knowledge would probably come in handy at one point or another while Ichigo was in control of the ship.

God knew that _that_ was a situation just waiting to blow up in all of their faces.

Not that he thought that Ichigo couldn't handle being a Captain. She'd been one before they had wound up here in the future. It's just that..._trouble_ of all kinds just had a way of finding his friend.

Or vice versa. Depending on the situation.

Once Chad had taken up his position next to Mr. Worf, Ichigo took a moment to glance around the bridge, wondering what she should be doing when Picard subtly cleared his throat and waited for her to look at him before patting the seat next to his own. Indicating that she should take a seat instead of just standing there looking confused.

She nodded her head at him and gave him a grateful look as she slowly made her way over to the empty chair and seated herself on the edge of the cushion.

"What's on the agenda today?" She asked him curiously.

"Well, there is a star going supernova soon that we thought we would check out."

She made a humming sound, "Sounds good."

"Have you ever seen a star go supernova before?" Jean-Luc asked. Ichigo just shook her head no before replying in a distant tone.

"I've seen a planet go supernova. But not any stars."

"You've seen a planet go supernova before?" Will asked, his tone shocked. It was rare enough when stars went supernova, and though planets themselves had a lot of the same properties as stars- he'd never heard of one going supernova before. At least, not without some sort of global disaster taking place.

"Yeah. It wasn't much fun either."

"I bet it was at least pretty to see." Will said, trying to coax something out of her. She looked at him sharply and took a moment to grit her teeth before saying in a strained tone.

"Watching a planet that was the home of hundreds upon _billions_ or people go up in a hellish display of fire, ash and death is hardly what I would call pretty. If anything, it was a nightmare."

Jean-Luc looked..._aghast_ by the 'hundreds upon billions' part of the sentence she'd just said and was sitting tensely in his seat as Will looked at her wide eyed before asking hesitantly, "D-Did anyone make it out alive?"

"A small number. Barely a handful really. Probably little more than a dozen or so. And a few of the survivors probably didn't make it further than the ship used to escape on. Some of them were severely injured by the flames. So...maybe less than a dozen."

"Out of hundreds upon thousands?! Are you kidding me?" Will practically shouted. Causing several others on the bridge to turn and look at them all strangely as Ichigo quietly placed a finger against her lips and made a soft shushing sound before simply saying,

"The military didn't pick up on the danger in time to evacuate everyone like they should have. By the time they did know of it, it was pretty much too late to do anything. The only reason that those few survived in the first place was because they were friends with a specialist that had equipment that picked up on the danger _before_ the world's military did. And it was still too late to evacuate anybody on a global scale. Many of the evacuation ships were already damaged from the earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes and so on."

"So when the time came, all it took was one person gathering up a few very specific individuals. Mostly teenagers. Only two or three adults, and the rest were children under the age of ten. Everything was set. They had a ship, supplies enough to last a year between each of them. Medically trained personnel who were on standby, just in case."

"Everything went up so quickly- it's...there's just no real words to describe the absolute _horror _of what happened. Everything was swept away by magma, wildfires, water...ect. The cities and the people in it were_ smothered_ in ash. Everyone out in the open- either died screaming, clutching their loved ones and friends to them or suffocated slowly underneath the onslaught of ashes and flames. The military panicked, and instead of helping civilians escape, shot them down in the streets and left the few that survived to die."

"Even the people on board the ship were hit hard. Several of the children and at least two of the adults- burned alive. Others became_ ill_ from the radiation that bombarded the ship. And soon a dozen or so people, became four. Four people remained, and survived. And the number has long since been altered again, by another event where one died. The last three survivors, are on a ship somewhere out in the vastness of space, just...trying to live their lives."

Everyone on the bridge was silent, even those at their own stations had stopped what they were doing to listen and hold their breath as they all waited for the inevitable conclusion to the story as Will sucked in a shaky breath and then said, "You were there, weren't you?"

The story, and the way that Ichigo spoke of the event was simply too oddly detailed to be spoken of by someone who had merely been close by or seen the planet go up from a safe distance. No- she had been there to see the cataclysmic destruction first hand. He was sure of it.

And from the looks of everyone else currently eavesdropping, they were sure of it as well.

Ichigo didn't bother confirming nor denying anything, she merely gave him a tight lipped smile and then stood up and walked over to Data and all but confiscated his seat after asking him how to work the computer at his station. Apparently feeling as if she needed the distraction.

Will, Deanna and Jean-Luc doubted that they could blame her any. After all, there was no telling what she had lost during the event. And something told them that she had lost far more than just family and friends.


	8. Chapter 8

They managed to reach the supernova around lunch time. Which was when Orihime made another appearance on the bridge to give Ichigo and Chad both a homemade lunch before running off again. Apparently Dr. Crusher was keeping the girl busy. Which was nice, they supposed.

Though Ichigo got loaded down with _both_ homemade lunches after Chad pulled out a couple of pastries and walked off. After which, she sighed and placed the two boxes in her lap and opened the lid to the first lunch and blanched a little bit at the mess she found inside.

Orihime's legendary weird food recipes were apparently about to strike again.

She hoped that she at least died with a _little_ dignity this time.

Tucking into her meal, she somehow managed to get about half way through it before biting into something bitter and finally making a strained sound that drew the attention of several people in the vicinity, Chad included. Making a face, she muttered a few 'ew's' underneath her breath and decided that they was enough lunch.

She'd have to destroy the rest later just to give the illusion of having eaten them before she even bothered to give the boxes back to Orihime this evening.

"Are you okay?" Jean-Luc asked in a concerned tone as she placed both boxes next to her seat and tried to suppress a shudder.

"F-Fine. It just tasted...bad."

She heard Chad make an amused choking sound behind her and turned her head to give him a glare as Mr. Worf looked over at him oddly and then continued his work with a shake of his head.

"Okay, a little more than _bad_," Ichigo amended before saying, "Orihime's food recipe's are legendary because of the way it can double as poison."

Jean-Luc got a look of understanding on his face and made a soft, "Ah." Sound as his lips twitched. Finding Ichigo's over dramatic reaction to the food that her friend had fixed for her, funny.

"It isn't funny, you heathen." She growled at him, obviously hoping to wipe the amused grin from his face. It didn't work. But she still tried.

"I wouldn't wish Orihime's cooking on anyone. Not even my worst enemy," There was a bark of laughter from Chad that had her quickly amending her words with a quickly spoken, "Okay, _maybe_ my worst enemy. But they would suffer horribly! It would be inhumane!"

Jean-Luc snorted and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing harder. Will and Deanna were apparently having a similar problem, trying to hide their own amusement.

Ichigo smiled at them and then started to turn her attention back to the front of the bridge where she could see the star on the screen when all of a sudden the ship started to shake. "What the hell?" Ichigo blurted out without meaning too as she jumped to her feet while the others all tried to simply maintain their balance where they stood or in their seats.

An alarm started going off.

"Mr. Worf! What just happened?" Ichigo demanded once the ship stopped shaking.

"Forgive me...ma'am, but it appears as if we've run into something." Worf said looking somewhat hesitant as he stared the girl down for a moment. The authoritative way that she demanded answers was eerily similar to someone with years of experience leading others.

But that couldn't be. Could it?

"Put it on screen."

"Yes, ma'am." Worf said as he put an image of what was outside of the ship up on the large screen towards the front of the bridge. Turning her head to see what was pulled up, Ichigo clenched her teeth when she saw a large asteroid surrounded by hundreds of thousands of smaller ones, just floating there, straight ahead of them.

"Can we do evasive maneuvers to keep from hitting any more of them?"

"No, ma'am. The ship is too big to avoid all of them. I would recommend firing the weapons to clear a path."

"No. Clearing a path using the weapons would only cause more trouble." Ichigo said with a frown as she studied the asteroids. "Is there any way that we can go around them?"

"No ma'am. I'm afraid not." Worf said gently as he waited to see what she would do.

"Very well then. Mr. Data, Chad the two of you are coming with me to airlock B. Mr' Worf, kindly contact Dr. Crusher and tell her to prepare the infirmary immediately for any injured personnel. Mr. Piccard, you and Will have the bridge until my return. Let's go people!" Ichigo said as she headed for the door. Chad and Data quickly falling into step behind her without question as Worf called out.

"Do you have a plan, ma'am?"

"Yup." Ichigo called back as the door abruptly closed behind her.

* * *

Once inside the closest elevator, Chad finally managed to find his voice. "Ichigo?"

"I know, Chad." She said as she took a moment to dig her badge out of her back, pants pocket and clutch it tightly in her hand.

"Is this wise?"

"Probably not. But we can't exactly let the ship be destroyed, now can we?"

"No. I suppose not."

"Ma'am? Would it not be prudent to tell me what it is that you are planning?" Data finally chimed in after a moment or so.

"Sorry, Data. The long and short of it is this- I'm going to blow myself out of airlock B, and use my physical ability to remove the asteroids."

"But...that would kill you?"

"Not if we do it _very_ carefully." Ichigo said. Chad looked down at his feet and tried to resist the urge to shift from foot to foot anxiously.

"B-But, would it not make more sense to send me?" Data asked in a confused tone.

"No. I need you here with Chad to help bring me back in before I'm out there for too long." Ichigo said as she clutched her badge _tighter_, causing it to bite into a her palm almost hard enough to draw blood.

"But ma'am I really must protest."

"Not now. Later, okay."

"B-But-" Data started to protest again as the elevator came to a sudden stop outside of the doors where the airlock B was located.

"No 'but's' Data, this is an order. First I need you to help Chad evacuate the airlock. I want no accidents with others in the crew..."

"Of course, ma'am." Data said reluctantly as he and Chad moved to do as she bid.

* * *

"I'm worried," Jean-Luc said anxiously as he slowly paced back and forth across the floor, his gaze occasionally flickering to the screen and the large asteroid floating there. "We don't even know if she has a plan." He muttered in a cautious tone.

"I'm worried as well, sir. But she did say that she had a plan-" Will said when the ship gave a sudden, _violent_ shudder, cutting him off rather abruptly as Worf called out in an alarmed tone.

"Airlock B is open!"

"What?!" Both Jean-Luc and Will shouted in unison as Worf then informed them that someone was outside of the ship.

"On screen now!" Jean-Luc shouted as Worf merely went slack jawed in disbelief and pointed to the screen in shock. Will made a weird sound as he slowly rose from his seat while Jean-Luc's eyes widened in horror.

There, floating in the weightlessness of space, was Ichigo.

Jean-Luc's jaw worked several times as he tried to find the right words to express his fear and concern as the girl flipped herself into an upright-ish position and used a small asteroid to suddenly launch herself like a missile towards the larger one.

She slammed into it with enough force to drop the jaw of every person on the bridge, somehow managing to push it back a bit before throwing herself towards another small asteroid and launching herself at the larger one again. She must have repeated the process for a good five minutes.

Somehow managing to push it back just enough to allow her to pull something large from her back. It was a massive sword. One with a black blade as long as she was tall, and as wide as her torso.

Holding the massive blade in one hand, she reared it back and swung it forward. Somehow managing to split the large asteroid completely in half and then swung it again to cut it down to size and divert some of the smaller pieces of stone away from the ship before finally flipping herself back away from the rocks and then disappearing.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm not sure if I wanna keep writing this story. As much as I planned ahead for it to be long and funny and serious and stuff...**

**I'm feeling somewhat discoraged. **

**I'll post whatever I come up with until I get tired or something. **

* * *

"You know," Jean-Luc said in a dazed tone. "There comes a time in every officer's life when you simply stop and think,_ my god-_ my captain is _insane_!"

Will made a humming sound that he took to be a sort of agreement as they waited for the elevator to come to a stop so that they could hurry off and see just what the _hell_ Ichigo had been thinking. However they knew that they likely wouldn't get any answers just yet due to the fact that Data had reported the safe return of the girl, to the ship before then taking her to the infirmary, several minutes prior.

The chances of the girl being strong enough to stay conscious after _starving_ her brain and lungs of oxygen for several minutes, was low. The probability of her even being completely conscious and in _full_ control of her facilities, was even lower.

Plus there was the fact that she was probably hypothermic from being exposed for a prolonged period of time to the coldness of space.

Of course their main concern would be the possibility of internal injury due to the vacuum. The popping and rupturing or random organs, veins exct...

Finally the elevator stopped, and the door slid open with a hiss. And the two quickly men hurried off of it and all but ran the rest of the way to the infirmary. Upon finally reaching it, they both stumbled through the door to find Beverly flitting from one side of the prone figure lying on one of the medical beds- to another.

Data and Chad were standing there. Data had a helpless look on his face and Chad...well, he sort of had his hands full with a distraught Orihime who looked as if she were crying her little eyes out.

"Dr. Crusher! Report." Jean-Luc demanded as he walked over. The woman barely lifted her head or glanced in his direction as he finally came to a stop several feet from where she was working.

"Hypothermic, slightly oxygen deprived, some internal bleeding, ruptured eardrums...and unconscious. All in all, despite everything that she's put herself through these past few moments she was floating around in space- her condition is stable."

Jean-Luc exhaled the breath that he hadn't been aware that he'd been holding as Will asked, "Will she live?"

"_Surprisingly_...yes. Though I want to keep her here for a day or so for observations."

"That's perfectly understandable." Will said in relief as he eyed the girl on the bed, a strangely calculating look on his face as Data stepped forward and said,

"Sir's, I tried to talk her out of it but she refused to listen to reason. I even volunteered myself to be sent out instead."

"She told you 'no' for a reason Data," Chad chimed in, stopping the android's rambling. "She wasn't trying to belittle you as a member of the crew. Nor was she trying to be mean or cruel. She knew that if she sent you out there, there was a high probability that you would suffer _irreparable_ damages that no one would be able to fix. She also knew the odds of her own survival as well as what she would likely suffer while out there. It was a calculated risk. But she would never send another to do something that she herself, could do instead."

"But she could have died." Data said in protest, _again_.

"She could have," Chad agreed with a slight nod. "However...she didn't. I don't know if any of you realize yet just _how_ good Ichigo is at doing the impossible. But that's pretty much what she does. _Constantly_."

Orihime pulled away from Chad with a small sniffle as she wiped at her eyes and then said, "He's right. Ichigo will be up and about again within an hour or so."

"Like hell she will!" Beverly snarled angrily. "The poor girl is almost a sneeze away from deaths door! It would be _impossible_\- if not totally _irresponsible_ of her to be up and about at all for at least a few days!"

"You can argue that point once she wakes up." Will said, diplomatically causing Beverly to huff and turn away from them as she said,

"You're damned right we will. Now, all of you get the hell out of my infirmary- I have a patient to tend to."

"If it is alright with you, Captain-" Data started, earning a strangled sound from Chad. "And with Dr. Crusher, I would like to stay here and help monitor Captain Ichigo's health. I feel...responsible for this happening sir."

"You aren't responsible Data," Orihime said gently. "Ichigo is a lot like you, _unique_ to the world. Or universe- whichever comes first. You're both the first and last of your kind. That in no way makes you responsible for her. Chad and I have tried to be responsible for her health and wellbeing since we were much _younger_. Sadly- taking on Ichigo is a lot like herding feral cats. It's just a disaster waiting to happen."

Chad nodded somberly in agreement as Data opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it and simply shut his mouth for the moment as Jean-Luc sighed and looked over at the girl, his expression carefully masked though his eyes looked worried maybe even a little bit sad as he said, "Will and I will return to the bridge for the time being since our current Captain is down for the moment. Please, let us know when she is awake Dr. Crusher. Will and I will have a few questions for her."

"Yes, of course." Beverly muttered as the two ment turned to leave as they heard Orihime say in a not so subtle whisper tone,

"Well that sounded ominous."

* * *

True to Orihime's word, Ichigo was up and wandering about the ship within an hour in a half of waking up and somehow escaping Beverly and _Data's_ watchful eyes. Which had been a little bit surprising- especially once Jean-Luc and Will had heard just_ how_ the girl had managed to escape.

Apparently after waking up, Beverly had been about to call Jean-Luc to inform him that she was awake when the girl pointed and all but yelled excitedly, "Look there! It's Elvis!" Causing both Beverly and Data to look away from her just long enough to allow her to jump down off of the bed and make her way out of the infirmary at a dead run before either of the two had realized what she had done.

Of course the fact that she had managed to escape Beverly's not so tender mercies was somewhat compounded a little bit when Data had unwisely turned to the doctor and asked her, who Elvis was. And promptly had to flee when she threw a_ few_ choice items at his head.

So now here they were, walking around the ship with Worf and several other security officers- which was overkill in his opinion- however Worf felt it was more or less in everyone's best interest to_ capture_ and _detain_ their temporary Captain since she was apparently much more dangerous than any of them had truly anticipated.

Frankly Jean-Luc thought that the man simply wanted the chance to tussle with the girl. Probably seeing as a chance to fight against someone of superior strength and test his mettle as a warrior.

Which was just ridiculous, if one really thought about it. Worf was already an established warrior, federation senior officer ect...

While Miss Ichigo Kurosaki was...a _teenager_ of unknown origins. So Jean-Luc was still sort of on the fence about her and her accomplishments. Especially since he knew so few of them.

Sure she was the temporary Captain of the Enterprise, a civilian with utterly inhuman abilities- possibly even an unknown species of alien being- but she also was a survivor of two, horrible events. The total _annihilation_ of one planet. And the _mass murder_ of the people of another.

Both of which- he isn't all that convinced that she wasn't in some way responsible for.

But what would help, is being able to find her and ask some questions. Things like, origins, actual age, birth place- _what the fucking hell was she?!_

* * *

"So the doc kicked you out of the infirmary, huh?" Ichigo asked Orihime. The other girl had her face buried in a pillow on her couch and she wasn't totally sure- but she had a sneaky suspicion that Hime was trying to _rip_ said pillow apart with her little teeth.

Orihime merely growled low and feral in the back of her throat and lifted her face just enough to see- yup, Hime was trying to tear her pillow apart _again_.

"How dare she!" The other girl finally spat out her pillow so that she could shriek. "How dare she kick me out of the place that you assigned! I was trying to be helpful!"

"Being helpful doesn't mean poking an angry bear-"

"I didn't poke an angry bear, I handed it the bedpan that it _threw_ at Commander Data's head!" Orihime practically screamed before she went back to growling as Ichigo looked over at Chad, whom was sitting in the chair across the way- trying in vain to make himself look small and said helplessly,

"I-I've got nothing else here, man."

"I'm not helping." Chad said automatically as he cast a nervous glance at both girls and then tried to sneak a subtle glance at the door. Mentally wondering if he could escape before the situation escalated any further.

He doubted that he'd manage to reason with the unreasonable. And with Ichigo on the lam, escaping now would only land him in even more trouble.

_Dammit!_ He needed less horrible friends.

"Wipe that sullen pout off of your face now, Chad." Ichigo growled at him. Chad huffed at her and then carefully blanked his expression before asking,

"Better?"

"Well, no- you sort of look like a robot."

"Call me Robo-Chad."

"Ha, ha. You are just so funny." Ichigo said sarcastically as she felt the energy signatures of Jean-Luc, Worf and Will along with several others closing in on their location and muttered something about 'survival of the fittest' as she reached down to pick up Orihime and quickly motioned for Chad to follow her before she disappeared into her bedroom.


	10. Chapter 10

**Who here wants to see Ichigo almost get caught by Picard and the others, shout 'survival of the fittest!' and grab some random person and toss them at the others and run?**

* * *

"So...not to be that person and naysay stuff, but...what exactly the plan here Ichigo?" Orihime asked as she crawled along behind the other girl. She had no idea what had possessed Ichigo to 'dig' an escape tunnel through her wall and into the vents, but whatever.

Ichigo was just plain _weird_ sometimes. Not that she didn't entirely have a reason to be. She tended to hang out with weird people, and sometimes their..._weirdness_ rubbed off on her. Which in turn rubbed off on them.

Not that she could completely complain. Some of that weirdness had helped keep them alive and well up to this point.

"No real plan," Ichigo said from over one of her shoulders. "We're going to make a nice little rat's next here in the vent, hopefully someplace close to Ten Forward, where Guinan will supply us with food and water, and we'll live out the rest of our days here in the vents."

"That's a nice plan and all Ichigo. There's just one problem."

"What's that?"

"You're obviously _insane_." Chad said from behind Orihime.

"Meh," Ichigo said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I've been called worse."

"And you'll probably be called worse again!" Orihime chirped at her. Ichigo merely made another 'meh' sound and barely a moment later placed her hand on an exposed wire and got electrocuted badly enough for the ship to go dark.

_"Oh shit."_ Chad muttered as he stared up at the ceiling of the vent above their heads in a mixture of horror and disbelief.

* * *

Guinan had just served the last drink of the hour when the ship went totally dark and shook her head as she bite back a smile. Those damned kids were on the lam again.

Or more accurately, Ichigo was.

It never failed either. At least twice every three to six months around the twenty eighth, the poor girl wound up in some sort of trouble and had to resort to hiding in the vents or something to avoid capture and interrogation. This time though, she'd apparently dragged her two friends along with her.

Though Guinan wasn't exactly sure if it was because she needed the companionship- or people to use as meat shields later on. She supposed things could go either way with Ichigo.

The kid was just funny that way.

Speaking of, given how many volts of electricity had just gone through her- she might actually need medical aid this time. "Five minutes. She has five minutes to come to the vent demanding food, or I'm calling someone to fish her out." She muttered to herself as she staggered over to the bar and silently moved to stand behind it, just in case and quietly began the five minute countdown when she heard the fait sounds of tapping on the vent behind her and turned around to see slender fingers sticking through in typical Ichigo-esque fashion.

Though her fingernails and fingertips did look a mite more _singed_ than she had expected them to be.

"Ichigo? Are you alright kid?" Guinan asked as she knelt down and looked over the girl from between the metal. Ichigo for lack of a better word, looked like _crap_. Cringing a little bit as the kid rasped out that she was fine, before then demanding food.

It took all of the restraint that Guinan had not to roll her eyes at the girl's antics before she asked where Orihime and Chad were.

Ichigo muttered that they had panicked and left her for dead in a slightly sullen tone despite the fact that the kid didn't really care all that much that they had left her alone. They were normal human's more or less and staying in the vent might have actually killed them. So really running was the only sane thing that they _could_ do.

Ichigo would get even with them and torment them for it, later.

_Much later_.

"Here, I fixed all of your favorites." Guinan said as she finally managed to find the large bento box full of food that she had made and then knelt back down and handed it to the girl. Ichigo quietly thanked her and disappeared a little bit further into the vent so that she could stay out of sight as the doors to Ten Forward opened and Jean-Luc, Worf, Will and a few others walked in.

They looked borderline angry/frustrated.

And Guinan would bet the reason they looked like that had to do with Ichigo's disappearing act.

"I can't believe how hard it is just to find one teenage girl." Will said in disbelief as he slowly shook his head.

"I know, it's like she vanished into thin air..." Worf said in a growling tone. Out of the lot of people looking for Ichigo, he seemed the most frustrated by her disappearance.

"Calm down Mr. Worf, I'm sure that she's around here somewhere. After all, there are so many places aboard a ship this size, that a young girl can hide." Jean-Luc said as he grabbed a seat from a nearby table and seated himself in it tiredly.

They had searched the ship from top to bottom- _literally_\- for almost five hours now and the blasted girl was still missing. And of course her friends were absolutely no help at all once they had found them.

The two had been running and screaming like crazy people and when they had been asked where Ichigo was, the girl, Orihime had started wailing her eyes out and blubbering something about _someone_ somewhere being dead. Jean-Luc just hoped that the person that the two had been blubbering about wasn't Ichigo.

Sensing rather than seeing Guinan walk over, he offered the woman a polite smile as she set something on the table in front of them. Cookies from the looks of it.

Old fashioned, home made, earth cookies.

"What's this?" He asked curiously as he picked one of them up and studied it.

"It's a cookie. A personal favorite of an old friend of mine that tends to drop by demanding food from me every three to six months exactly on the twenty eighth. I fixed a little bit extra while thinking of her impending visit this morning."

Taking a bit of the cookie in his hand, Jean-Luc let out a small sound of approval and asked what her friend was like, knowing that it would lead to a long and interesting story.

Guinan grinned at him and pulled up a chair for herself, and said. "Well, I first met my friend during the twentieth century. As you know, I'm very old. I was living in Japan at the time, and had just gone to get some groceries from a local market when I was grabbed and pulled into an alley," She looked over at Jean-Luc and noticed that he was sitting up a little bit straighter in his seat. Giving her his undivided attention.

Worf and Will were too.

"The person that grabbed me, hit me twice and tried to take my wallet. But I wouldn't give it to him. So we struggled and just as he was about to hit me again, this...tall-ish, twelve year old kid with the oddest, wild strawberry blond-ish orange hair jumped the fence at the end of the alley and ran towards us. I thought that she was a boy at first, because of her height, build, and the way that she dressed and spoke."

"She grabbed my attacker and yanked him off of me and very politely asked me if I was okay before she saw the hand print on my face. She decked the guy, breaking his nose, and splitting his lip pretty badly and then once he was down, walked over to me and very kindly fished a kerchief out of her pocket and handed it to me because I was crying. She nicely escorted me home and I invited her in for tea or something during which time I asked her if I could ever repay her. I expected her to ask for money, but instead she totally surprised me by asking for home made cookies. She even brought me her late mother's recipe to use."

"I found out after we met up for the second time, that her name was Ichigo Kurosaki. She was a Junior High school student. An older sister to two very young baby sisters. And her dad was a full time doctor who ran a very small clinic that was attached to their home."

"She liked to come by and visit every few weeks to check on me, and when she was out and about and we ran into each other- she would stay with me and walk me home. Often times going out of her way to help me carry my groceries and such. S-She was a really sweet kid. But then something happened. She started to disappear weeks, sometimes months at a time."

"And whenever she would come back...she always wound up in the hospital or on bed rest. She came to me a few times before she disappeared and would tell me a little bit. For instance she was attacked along with a schoolmate while trying to help a friend. Her friend however was captured and...was taken to be executed for some crime that Ichigo knew that she didn't commit. About a week or so after her friend was taken, she stopped by my place to have tea and cookies and told me not to worry. She had made arrangements for someone to check up on me if she was gone for too long. And for someone to do something for her family if she didn't come back at all."

"This of course went on for some time. Almost three years, I think. At which time the last time I really saw her at all was after a...well, the only way to describe what had happened was an all out _war_. People were under attack everywhere in the city. There was rioting, running and screaming. Wildfires seemed to appear in the sky and burn across everything like hungry monsters."

"Before I was forced to run for my life, I saw Ichigo. It was brief, and she was badly injured... But it didn't stop her from appearing in front of me before the flames could reach me. She was bloody and bruised and burned and looked as if she were on the verge of collapse. Yet she looked back at me with those unnerving eyes of hers, and gave me a grim smile and told me to go while I could. She'd hold the enemy off while she still had strength left to do so."

"After that it was over a thousand years before I saw her again, I mean, can you imagine a thousand years of thinking she was dead and then one day, she just...walked through the doors of Ten Forward and sat down at the bar and asked me for come cookies. I was so shocked that I cried and gave her a hug and she just held onto me and patted my back and told me that it was nice to see me again."

"Guinan, are you saying that you knew Ichigo when she was a kid?" Will asked curiously. Guinan merely made a humming sound as Jean-Luc asked,

"But if that is so- wouldn't that make her almost as old as you?"

"Probably." Guinan agreed.

"Then she really isn't human."

"Oh no, she's human. Or at least she was in the beginning. But she's also something else entirely. Something older than me. Definitely more _gifted_. But Ichigo is still an infant by those standards. And has the greatest potential of anyone like her ever born. But she isn't a bad person. Nor is she your enemy. Try not to treat her like one simply because she's different than you. She gets enough of that as it is."


	11. Chapter 11

Guinan's talk with them had put some things in perspective for them as far as their concerns about their temporary captain went. It even answered _some_ of their questions. But not all of them.

Ichigo had said that she was a survivor of a plant destroyed... Or perhaps she merely thought that it had been.

Or had she been speaking of _both_ her home on Earth- because there had been a semi global cataclysmic incident several hundred years back. Japan and twenty something other countries had sank into the sea. There had been tsunami's, floods, hurricanes, volcano's, ect...and maybe she had somehow _combined_ the event that had taken place on Earth with something else entirely?

You know, now that they had a decent timeline in which to study up on things, Ichigo _had_ probably watched everything but her friends go up in flames.

After the talk that they had had with Guinan, Jean-Luc had dismissed Worf and Will and upon leaving Ten Forward had gone straight to Data and asked him if he could find anything on Ichigo during the early twentieth century. Information on her home town, her family, her grades in school.

Just_ anything_ that he could find.

Less than an hour later he got two grainy, half destroyed photographs of Ichigo and what he assumed was her family. There was a man, and two young children standing around her. She looked like she was eleven or so in the picture. Her hair was shortly cut and the way that it fell around her face was both flattering, and alarmingly_ masculine_.

But he supposed that that had sort of been the point of the cut and style.

She also had a bandage of some kind above one eye, and two more on one of her cheeks and on her chin.

And in the other picture, she was wearing a weird black long sleeved kimono type thing tucked into baggy black pants. There were bandages all over her hands, the exposed skin of her arms, and even around her neck- and she was holding a _massive_ sword that looked exactly like the one that she had used while she had been floating around in space.

Studying the second picture a little more thoroughly, he made a low humming sound and then saved the pictures for later and then decided to call it a day.

* * *

The next day began much like the first day for the crew on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Much like the day before, Ichigo showed up- as pretty as you please- and the moment that she stepped onto the bridge to preform her duties, her friend Chad took one look at her, screamed, and promptly turned to run and ran himself right into a wall and gave himself a concussion.

It was a comical moment for everyone.

Unfortunately, Jean-Luc became worried for the young man's well being after he managed to run himself into a wall again- this time after Ichigo had moved to see what he and Mr. Worf were working on.

After that, the girl merely made a tsking sound and sent the boy back to his room to relax. Muttering something about him being far too tense to be of any use right then.

Once that had been done, she spent some time working from Data's station for a little bit and then removed herself so that he could retake his station when they picked up a hail from another ship.

It turned out to be a Klingon ship in need of repairs.

Nothing big or terrible so the ship was allowed to dock with them and get their ship worked on.

After a small crew from engineering looked at the damages that needed repairing, it was estimated that the crew form the other ship would be staying with them for two to three days at the most before they would be sent on their way.

And since there was only a crew of ten or so people, Ichigo turned to Will and asked what the protocols were for allowing non civilian or crew to stay. Will told her that they would be given guest quarters on the fourth level of the ship, and would be free to come and go as they wished _within_ reason.

Within reason, of course meant that they were to stick to civilian floors and areas and stay far, far away from areas of the ship were they had tech, weapons, chemicals, and so on.

Once she seemed to understand what to do, she stood back up and motioned for himself and Will and Mr. Worf to follow her. Saying something about, if someone was going to stay on their ship- then she was going to meet them and get a good feel for their character.

This of course wasn't unreasonable.

Jean-Luc, Will, Worf and sometimes even Data and a few choice others had met strangers that were going to stay on the ship a few times to get a good feel for the personalities and characters of the strangers so that they would know which person, if any, was a troublemaker or not.

Once they were down in the hanger, he, Will and Worf followed Ichigo's lead after a brief conversation in the elevator about what she should expect from Klingons. Worf had warned her that they were a warrior race and weren't terribly likely to be polite, much less respectful of her because of her age- regardless of her temporary position as the Captain. She had merely nodded her head in understanding and said nothing more.

So all three of them were somewhat anxious to see how things went. Worf was worried that the others would say or do something offensive to the girl. And even went so far as to state that he would dislike it _immensely_ if she cried.

Neither Will nor Jean-Luc felt that there was any real possibility of Ichigo being offended or having her feelings hurt enough to actually cry. But they had been known to be wrong before. So they were just going to observe and step in when needed.

After all, Klingons were notoriously difficult people to do much of anything with.

Once the Captain of the other ship noticed them, he and a few others walked over.

"Greetings," A tall man in worn leather said, "My name is Ch'trox Actegh. Which of you is the Captain of this fine ship?"

"That would be me-" Ichigo said in a confident tone as she stepped forward. The man looked at her wide eyed as one of his men said something rude behind him about her being a child and a female. Ichigo merely cut a glare at the guy that had said something as the captain of the other ship finally said.

"You are the Captain of this vessel?"

"I am. Is there a problem with that?"

The man was quiet for a heartbeat longer than he should have been, obviously battling with himself against saying something that could easily get them kicked off of the ship and left to die from another attack or something else. Finally he gave Ichigo a weird parody of a smile, tight lipped, and awkward as he said, "No. I have no problems. And neither do my crew... I'm sorry, I didn't catch you're name Captain."

"Ichigo Kurosaki. But you can just call me Ichigo."

"Very well, Ichigo… We thank you for you're timely assistance in repairing our ship." Ch'trox said cordially.

"You are most welcome." Ichigo said with a small smile when Ch'trox's man made another rude comment about her and her crew. Fearing what she was about to do, Worf started to step forward and take the man in hand when he heard Ichigo invite Ch'trox and his 'friend' to spar with her later. Ch'trox blinked at her and then asked her if she really sparred, because she certainly didn't appear to be a warrior.

Ichigo merely smiled at him again, this time indulgently and told him that she was a warrior. Just because she didn't advertise it much didn't exactly mean anything.

And with that, Ch'trox nodded and seemed excited as he assured her that both he, and his 'friend' would spar with her later. She gave him the time and told him that she would come to get him and his crewmate once she was sure that she was off duty for the day.

Once that was done, she assigned them to their guest quarters and explained the rules of the ship to them. After which she and the others showed the Klingons where they could rest and then left them to their own vices until time to return.

They were back on the elevator before Mr. Worf told her that she had done an admirable job of greeting them, and handling herself when the other had made slurs against her.

And then asked why she had invited them to spar.

Jean-Luc and Will had known the _why_ of things. The two of them had practically seen it coming from a mile away the moment that Ch'trox's man had started speaking so rudely of her and their crew. Normally they let things like that slide. After all, everyone was entitled to their opinion.

However Ichigo apparently didn't feel so inclined to do as they usually did.

Which was why she had invited the two to spar with her later.

There was no way that anyone could say anything to her or them for that matter, if she knocked someone on their ass during a friendly little spar. Why for a Klingon to complain about someone after a _spar_ was practically unheard of! Not to mention _humiliating_.

Which was why it was a stroke of pure genius for the girl to have decided to spar with the men.

Once they were off of the elevator again and Worf and Ichigo were well out of earshot Will turned to him with a big grin and said, "I think we have a new way to deal with rowdy Klingons that come aboard the ship."

"So it would seem number two," Jean-Luc said with a grin of his own before asking, "You'll be there to watch right?"

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away sir."

"Excellent, I think that I will join you. It could be...educational."

"Undoubtedly sir." Will sniggered.


End file.
